Eternal Starling (Emblem of Eternity Trilogy) (27 page)

They obviously didn’t know Alex very well if they thought he gave me anything more than obscure explanations. “I won’t tell you anything,” I said, while trying to hide the fact that I really didn’t know anything I thought would be of value. If they believed I had the information they wanted, they might be less likely to hurt me.

The guy smiled, patronizing me, and I noticed his crooked teeth for the first time. He reached a hand toward me, brushing his fingers roughly through my hair. “Truly, I could care less whether you are willing to help or not. We aren’t giving you a choice. You will help us, regardless of how much you fight it.”

I surveyed the floor like I was thinking, but wanted to scream.

“Rest assured, Alex will not be able to help you unless we let him. Regardless of what you know about Alex, there are many things he doesn’t know about
us
.” The guy stood, reaching into his pocket with his left hand and pulled out a small vile. He carefully unscrewed the lid from the top, stepping back as he poured it on the floor. Red and black smoke rose from the puddle as it expanded and I started to feel dizzy.

“This should keep both of us entertained. I call it Sync. It requires an established bond between two people in love. Your Protector / Tracker bond with Alex makes it even more powerful. Sync opens up a door into Alex’s mind that allows my Clan to view his memories and find out the information he has about the Amaranthine. The potion is spelled so that as long as you’re synced to Alex, we can access his memories and copy them—like a computer backup. Your bond opens the channel to his mind, the information flows into the liquid on the floor, and we have it forever. We’ll be copying his knowledge, but he won’t know it. While we duplicate his memories, you’ll be able to see and hear everything he’s experiencing, though I doubt you’ll remember much.”

I looked back at the puddle of what I thought was water, but now appeared to have a sheen over it, like oil. As I watched, the colors of the puddle started changing in a dizzying rainbow of purples, blues, greens, and reds, hypnotizing me. I tried to look away, but couldn’t. It was like I had lost the ability to control my mind and my choices. I got the impression the substance could envelop me in a black hole of darkness if I fell into it. The puddle was no bigger than a dinner plate, but it seemed like it was slowly drawing me in.

I was completely absorbed in the colors and darkness, only vaguely aware of the guy still in the room with me as my mind kept spiraling deeper into the black mass. The guy’s voice came like an echo in the back of my mind. “By the way, my name is Caleb.” He gave me a chance to recognize the name through the haze in my head. “If you live, you can tell your mother I said hello—or maybe I’ll tell her myself.” My stomach dropped in terror as the door shut heavily. I heard a key turn to engage the lock, but all I could do was stare in fuzzy horror at the puddle.

My breath came in quick gasps and my head started to pound. It felt like I was being pulled into the hole, but my body remained firmly on the floor of the cave. The feeling was spreading throughout my head. My mind became increasingly foggy and seemed to be somewhere else. Out of nowhere I could see flashes of images, like I was watching them through someone else’s eyes. My own thoughts became hazy as I realized my mind was somehow merging with Alex’s.

Chapter 19

As I came out of the fog of my mind, the first thing I noticed was the pounding. The loud thumping was coming from a large redwood door with a heavy iron handle at the end of a hall. I wondered why no one was answering it. I looked around at the familiar black marble countertops and stainless steel appliances. I heard a groan coming from the floor and noticed keys scattered haphazardly on the ground like they’d been dropped.

I followed the chaos with my eyes, watching as Alex moved slowly to sit up. Had he been attacked? Was he hurt? I moved my mouth to ask him but no sound came out. I thought maybe I could touch him to get his attention, but I realized I didn’t have hands to touch him with. It felt like I was watching a movie and couldn’t interact with the people on the screen.

The knocking on the door continued as Alex rubbed his head with both hands like he was trying to calm the pain. His clothes were rumpled, dark circles rimmed his eyes. He placed his palms on the ground, shifting to his knees. As if testing his strength, he gripped the side of the countertop and stood. He walked with hesitation to answer the banging coming from the front door. Heavy footsteps sounded across the wood floor as he ran a hand through his disheveled hair.

I tried yelling his name again, but the sound still wouldn’t produce. Alex didn’t know I was there, and frankly, I wasn’t sure if I was. I felt like I’d disconnected with my body somehow and was an invisible spectator in Alex’s life. I took a moment to wonder if I’d died. I didn’t feel like a ghost, but I didn’t feel like myself either. I could observe what was happening around me, but the things that made me
me
, were missing. It was like my soul had stayed with my body while my mind synced with Alex’s. Now I seemed to be stuck in some sort of limbo where I could see and hear everything going on, but no one knew I was there.

As Alex took slow steps down the hallway, I could sense his confusion and frustration. Alex unlocked the door and twisted the handle, opening it slowly. Emil stood in front of him with his hands on the door frame, his face a mask of cold calm. His knuckles were white and the veins in his neck bulged. His gaze tracked over Alex’s tight lips and angry expression.

Before Alex had a chance to speak, Emil said, “Where the hell is she?”

Any hints of the pain Alex had endured that caused him to crash to the kitchen floor vanished with Emil’s question. Alex widened his stance and crossed his arms over his chest, blocking the doorway. “What are you talking about?”

Emil’s eyes were dark and I could see his pulse pounding. “Evie’s been missing for six hours. Why the hell haven’t you found her yet?”

Alex’s eyes went huge with shock and he stumbled back. “What? She’s been gone for six hours?”

Emil ground his teeth, then pushed past Alex into the house. “Been sleeping on the job, Night?” Emil glanced down at his watch. “The Tracker you’re supposed to protect has been gone for six hours, fourteen minutes, and thirty-two seconds. Clearly, you haven’t been paying attention. Use your bond and find her. Now!”

Alex stared at Emil for a few beats. He pressed the tips of his fingers against his head as he closed his eyes. It only took five seconds for him to double over, gasping in pain. When he regained his breath, he stood and mumbled, “This can’t be happening.” He lifted his hand, touching his thumb to his ring. The circle and half moon symbol appeared. He rubbed his thumb once to the right, then to the left, then straight up. When he’d done that at the sand dunes, he’d been able to see me. This time, there was nothing. He tried three more times with the same result. His breath became labored, unbridled anger flashing in his eyes. He stalked to a statue and threw it across the hallway, imbedding it in a wall. Alex turned on Emil, his expression furious. He mumbled a string of curses. “I find it hard to believe you’re not involved in her disappearance, Stone. Tell me what the hell happened to her.”

Emil gave a humorless laugh and looked Alex up and down, assessing his disheveled clothes. “Of the two of us, I’m the one who stayed awake long enough to know she was gone.
I’ve
actually been searching for her during the last six hours. So tell me, Night, how was your nap?”

Alex clamped his hands into tight fists. He looked like he was ready to kill Emil. “I wasn’t asleep you jackass. I checked on Evie and she was leaving school. I was going to meet her at her house. The last thing I remember is picking up my keys. I woke up on the kitchen floor to the sound of you beating the door down.”

Emil glared. “I’d like to beat more than the door. I’ve been here pounding on the door three times since she went missing. How could you lose her like that?”

Through his teeth Alex said, “Are you kidding me? It’s not like I did it on purpose. My bond with her is gone.” He crossed his arms over his chest, regarding Emil with suspicion. “How did you even know she was missing?” It was more of an accusation than a question.

Emil clenched his jaw. “Like it or not, Night, Evie and I have a bond too. I can’t feel it anymore either. It seems both of our bonds with her stopped working at the same time.”

Anger and desperation warred on Alex’s face.

Emil studied Alex and took a deep, calming breath. “You’re going to need help finding her. I’ll do whatever it takes to get her back.”

I expected more bickering, but instead, Alex assessed Emil and after a minute, nodded his head in a come-with-me gesture.

Emil followed Alex to the sitting room and sat on a large, dark brown leather couch. Alex poured two drinks from a sideboard that sat under a massive portrait of a man in a dark brown suit, and a woman in an emerald dress from another era. I hadn’t noticed the picture when I’d visited Alex’s house, but we never spent time in the sitting room either. I examined the portrait and noticed the name Mercier scribbled at the bottom of the painting. I remembered the same name next to some of the masterpieces in Alex’s art collection. The man in the portrait had dark hair and a chiseled face. The woman’s skin was ivory, her features soft, but there was fire in her green eyes. Between the two of them, the family resemblance was unmistakable: Alex’s parents.

Alex turned and walked back to Emil, handing him a glass. Emil took a sip and held the glass as Alex lifted his drink to his lips and swallowed the contents with one swift tilt of his head. He walked back to the sideboard to refill his drink. “Where have you searched for her?”

Emil lifted his head watching Alex. “Where haven’t I? Her house, the college campus, every store, restaurant, and park in town. Her Mustang is still at the school. From the moment my bond with her was gone, I’ve been searching for her,” Emil said. “Where was she when your bond was severed?”

Alex poured more amber liquid into his glass. “She was walking to her car after class. She fell and when she got up she seemed to be talking to someone I couldn’t see. At that point, she disappeared and her bond went with her. I’ve never felt anything like it. I have no idea what happened.”

“So it’s similar to the other Tracker abductions that have been going on?” Emil asked.

Alex gave Emil a long, surprised look. “What do you know about the abductions?”

Emil put his glass on the coffee table in front of him. “Enough,” he said, lacing his fingers together, resting his elbows on his thighs. “The Daevos leaders are as confused as the Amaranthine.”

Alex curled his lip in a sneer like he didn’t believe a word Emil was saying. “Well, someone is taking Trackers, so someone has to know what’s going on.” He sat down in the chair again, this time holding his drink instead of tossing it back immediately. “I’ve been watching the other Daevos members in town. I assume you’re here with them. What do you know?”

Emil looked up sharply and froze. “I didn’t know there were other Daevos members in Gunnison.”

Alex couldn’t cover his surprise. “They’ve been all over town! They showed up right after Evie and I kissed. I assumed your Clan was using a Tracker and had followed my bond with her. I thought you were trying to seduce Evie into joining your Clan . . . again.”

Emil shook his head slowly. “That’s not why I came. And I’m here alone. My Clan is still in Greece.”

Alex swirled the liquid in his glass, watching Emil carefully. “Why would you come here without your Clan?”

Emil moved his gaze to the floor as if deciding what to say, then met Alex’s eyes with a steely determination. “I knew about the Tracker abductions. I thought the more people Evie had watching out for her, the better,” he paused as if weighing his thoughts. “But that wasn’t the only reason. I came because I had to see her. Regardless of what you believe, I love her as much, if not more than you,” Emil said with resolve.

Alex’s face burned red with anger and his eyes flashed. The alcohol wasn’t helping the situation. “No! You. Do. Not.”

Emil pegged Alex with a hard stare. “Yes. I do. I always have. It was as difficult for me to be away from her as it was for you. At least you had the advantage of always getting to see her. I didn’t even have that.”

Alex took a deep breath so ragged with anger that it seemed like the air was scorching his lungs. “Don’t you dare compare your feelings for Evie with my own. You have no idea how much I love her.”

Emil lifted his shoulders. “Believe what you want, but I know how I feel. I came here to find her, to be with her again and make sure she’s safe from the Daevos.”

Alex ground his teeth and flames blazed in his eyes. Emil held his ground as Alex threw his glass against the wall and yelled, “You are the Daevos! You’re the person she’s being protected from. Don’t try to tell me you’re worried about keeping her alive.”

“Someone has to be worried about that,” Emil spat. He gestured toward the sideboard and the amber liquid now dripping down the wall and winding its way through broken glass shards on the floor. “You certainly aren’t doing your job.”

Alex recoiled like he’d been hit and Emil stood. “Arguing isn’t going to help get Evie back,” Emil said. “We need to work together.”

I could see Alex didn’t want to admit that Emil was right. Taking a few cleansing breaths, he composed himself and asked, “If your Clan didn’t take her, who did?”

“I don’t know,” Emil said pacing back and forth in thought. “You said you saw other Daevos members in Gunnison?”

Alex nodded. “I noticed them for the first time in July.”

“July? So that’s why you left?” Emil asked.

Alex nodded again. “I thought it would be safer if the Clan couldn’t track our soul mate bond.”

Emil snorted. “The damage was already done. You shouldn’t have left after the Daevos members already knew where she was and that you’d been spending time with her.”

“I left because I put her in more danger by being around her—especially because of our soulmarks. If anyone should understand that, it’s you.”

Emil laughed. “No wonder Evie was mad. You told her she was in danger and then you ran away.”

Alex ground his teeth. “I did not
run away
. I was still watching her, but she didn’t know it.”

Emil was quiet again for a moment, thinking. “If you’re sure it’s the Daevos, I’ll find out what I can. We’ll get her back.”

“
I
will bring her home safely.”

“We both will,” Emil corrected him. “And just so we’re clear, you should know this doesn’t change anything. I’m doing this for Evie, not for you. When we find her, I’m still going to fight for her.”

Alex nodded in acknowledgment of the warning, and the fact that he couldn’t do this alone. “You’re probably our best chance for locating her.”

Emil walked out of the sitting room and stopped before turning the front door handle. “I’ll contact you as soon as I hear anything,” he said. The door shut loudly behind him.

I hovered in the corner of Alex’s room, watching him. It seemed I had to stay wherever he was—probably a side effect of the mind sync. I watched as Alex ran his fingers through his hair and pulled on a fresh red T-shirt and crisp jeans.

Alex spent the rest of the night and the next day searching for me, for Daevos members, or any other clues that would lead him to me. When I disappeared, the only thing that had been left behind was my backpack. Alex had recovered it and found my house keys inside. He used the keys to get into my bedroom and search there too.

He thumbed through my bookshelves, and flipped back the quilt on my bed. He examined tidy dresser drawers, and fanned open books I’d used recently. My desk was the only thing he hadn’t searched yet. The top of it was clean, like everything else. Photos and knick knacks were scattered around the edges. A large calendar was centered in the middle of the desk. Alex examined the calendar, but nothing seemed suspicious. I had almost given up when Alex noticed a few pieces of ripped paper sticking out from under the calendar. I wondered what the scraps of paper were. It wasn’t like me to leave trash lying around.